Ojibwe Marriage Customs

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Usually, after they were married, the man and the woman would live with the woman's family for a time. Again, this is only because it is a matriarchal society, it wasn't unheard of to live with they man's family after marriage. While they were living with the woman's family (or man's), if they desired to start a family, they would build a lodge for themselves. If the decided not to start a family, they were welcome to live with either family, the woman's or the man's. This was a very family oriented society.

In order to get married, the young couple had a few requirements to fulfill. The main thing they had to do was to find sponsors. In total, they were expected to have 4 sponsors, generally two from the bride, and two from the groom. The sponsors were older, respected people from their tribe, who, during the ceremony, pledged to give spiritual and marital guidance for their entire lifetime. When a couple gets married, they are forever married in the eyes of The Creator, to God. They are not allowed to divorce, so the ceremony is only performed if the couple is serious about getting married. The Pipe Carrier is the official in the ceremony, much like our priest. The couple then says their vows, and they each smoke from the pipe.

The Ojibwe were a matriarch society, because of this, the young women in the tribe were watched very closely by the elder women of the tribe. If a man was serious bout marrying a woman, he would hunt an animal, and bring it, as an offering, to the woman's family. If the family approved of the man, he was invited to eat the meal with the family. Generally the larger the animal, the better, because it showed to the family that the man was very capable, and would be able to provide for their daughter.

The Ojibwe were one of the larger tribes of Native Americans in North America. They lived in the Lake Superior region. When they originally moved to this area, long before the Europeans arrived, they believed that they were the first people to live, and named themselves with this belief in mind. The Ojibwe people call themselves Anishinabe or "First People" in Algonquin, their native language. But in Canada, they are known as Ojibwe, Ojibwa, or Ojibway. In the United States, they are known as the Chippewa.